John Axelrod’s Brahms Beloved, Vol. 2
released on July 22!
Axelrod returns to the podium and the piano to complete his acclaimed cycle of Brahms symphonies and Clara Schumann songs -- joined for this volume by legendary soprano Dame Felicity Lott and Lieder specialist Wolfgang Holzmair
The second and final volume of “Brahms Beloved”, in which conductor John Axelrod pairs the Brahms symphonies (in this set, the First and the Third) with songs by his muse, Clara Schumann, will be released by Telarc on June 17, 2014. Volume 1 inspired healthy debate among Brahmsians as to how deeply enmeshed the presence of Clara is in the songs of the man who always had a love for her, and this volume takes the discussion further with a fascinating booklet essay by Jan Swafford, author of the standard-reference Brahms biography.
Keeping with the idea of using different voice-types for each ‘set’ of Clara’s songs, the better to explore the notion of different sides of their composer’s character, this volume introduces our two final “Claras,” the great Lieder singers Dame Felicity Lott and, for the more masculine side of Clara, Wolfgang Holzmair. The orchestra is again the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, of which John Axelrod is Principal Conductor, and Axelrod once more does double-duty as conductor and pianist.
In his forthcoming review of this album, music critic and Brahms specialist Jerry Dubins is as enthusiastic about this issue as he was about its predecessor. “Axelrod has already proven himself a master of Brahms with his previous release...Here, from the very first downbeat, one senses the shaping of a performance by a master builder. Nor does the performance lack for sheer beauty of playing by the Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra – listen to the sinuous violin lines...the sylvan woodwind exchanges...the blazing brass in the grand finale [of the First]...Add to this Michael Fine’s and Wolf-Dieter Karwatky’s magnificent recorded sound...and you have a pair of Brahms symphonies for the ages."
Praise for Brahms Beloved, Volume 1
“Compelling performances of music that captures all the passion of Brahms and Clara’s relationship” Classic FM (UK)
“John Axelrod presents the Brahms Symphonies with just straightforward, forceful playing. He allows his musicians to breath, to enrich the music with lovely colors, deep lyricism and some particularly interesting contrasts. That said, this rather unusual Brahms is unusually coupled with 10 beautiful Clara Schumann songs, ravishingly sung by Nicole Cabell and Indra Thomas.” Remy Franck, Pizzicato
“John Axelrod’s Brahms is great and all his own. “Brahms Beloved” permits us to see deeply into the composer’s character. I don’t think anybody who loves Brahms can afford to be without it—it’s that good.” Dave Saemann, Fanfare
“Experienced in all repertoire, John Axelrod conducts a very classy and masterful Brahms. Refusing interpretive fads and "tics" of conductors, his Brahms moves with a natural feeling for its form and architecture, conducted with a high competence and artistic intelligence.” Pierre Jean Tribot, ResMusica
John Axelrod is Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi since 2011 and has been Music Director of the Orchestra National des Pays de la Loire in France and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Theater in Switzerland. A former pupil of Leonard Bernstein, he is one of today’s most internationally in- demand conductors. Recent recordings include a much-praised Berlioz and Ravel disc with Veronique Gens (winner of ResMusic CD of the Year) for Ondine Classics (which led respected US broadcaster Tom Manoff to write, “Just when I was beginning to worry about the future of classical music, I’m discovering new great conductors like John Axelrod), “French Impressions” (winner of 2012 ICMA Best Concerto Performance with Orchestra) and “American Serenade” (“5 stars” – Diapason) with violinist Rachel Kolly d’Alba (Warner Classics), and Gorecki’s Third Symphony with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian for Sony Classical. He has conducted other leading orchestras and opera houses around the world, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, and has conducted the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and premiered Bernstein’s Candide at Theatre du Châtelet and Teatro alla Scala. In upcoming seasons, Axelrod will continue to conduct the symphonies of Brahms in the U.S. and Europe to promote this unique cycle.
Dame Felicity Lott has appeared at all the great opera houses of the world: Vienna, Milan, Paris, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, New York and Chicago. Felicity is well known as a concert artist, working with all the great conductors and orchestras. Wolfgang Holzmair was born in Vöcklabruck, Austria, and studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with Hilde Rössel-Majdan (voice) and Erik Werba (lied). He performs in recital throughout the world in collaboration with leading accompanists and pianists of our time.
The Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi was founded in 1993 by Vladimir Delman, and music directors, conductors emeritus and principal guest conductors have included Riccardo Chailly, Carlo Maria Giulini, Xian Zhang, Rudolf Barshai, Helmut Rilling and Wayne Marshall. The orchestra’s recordings have won success and awards, including a Gramophone Award, Classic FM People’s Choice, the Choc de l’Annee and, in 2010, the Grammy (for “Verismo Arias” with Renee Fleming).